Filling out the information on a health insurance application is a long process, and it's easy to mess up. There are many places where a value can be omitted or incorrectly written, and these little errors cause big ripples down the line. The approval process is long and your paperwork will go through many pairs of hands before you can receive a positive response, so make sure that you fill everything out with care without misinformation.

Health care is regulated by government law and state insurance commission rules. Every application must be accurate to ensure that people are not taken advantage of by fraudulent use of information or identity theft. In order to protect consumers, legislation like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) provide stipulations for the privacy of all health care related records. If misinformation is spotted in the early stages of a health insurance application, it usually sends up a flag that insurance companies must investigate. Clearing up any issues can cause massive delays in policy approval, making it prudent to fill things out accurately and double check all items when finished.

Another way misinformation causes delays is that if it has to do with financial data, insurance companies will not be able to certify your ability to pay for their services. Insurers are wary of providing coverage for high-risk clients, as they like to know that they'll be minimizing the amount of money they're losing. Making sure you double check your payment method information, your employer information and any other applicable sections are crucial to a speedy approval.

While those who have current policies may not see a problem with delays in their health insurance approval, people who are on the edge of a coverage period can suffer greatly. Coverage gaps make it hard to deal with medical treatment costs, and as many patients wait until the last minute to apply for new insurance, delays can lead to periods of no insurance.

What can you do to insure your health insurance application gets approved quickly? While there's no accounting for the fact that we all make mistakes, you can easily spot and correct them by going over your own application before you submit it. When you're ready to send it, make sure you keep a copy for your own records. If an insurer calls you to verify something, as they will likely do when they encounter misinformation, you can speed up the process of making corrections if you have a copy of the health insurance application for your own reference. Try to avoid mistakes if you can and you'll be able to get insured faster.